


Year Three

by riverblujay



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Gryffindor Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts Third Year, Implied indian harry potter, Werewolf Draco Malfoy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-02-02 10:11:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12724605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riverblujay/pseuds/riverblujay
Summary: It's Draco's third year, and things seem to be shaping up. His friends are starting to learn how to be animagi, (because they're amazing like that) but something is off with the new defense professor (well, more so than usual). And with Sirius Black on the run and dementors surrounding the castle, it's definitely going to be an interesting year.





	Year Three

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a thing I wrote like four years ago and wanted to finally post to see what people thought of it. I plan to maybe write the whole series one day??
> 
> The title is a work in progress. (So is the summary tbh)

Draco stares quietly at his mother. “You have all your things?” She asks.

“Yes, Mum.” 

She pauses for a minute then straightens her posture. “Good. Now, then,” she gestures to the Hogwarts Express. “It’s nearly eleven, you should be leaving.” His mother surprises him by pulling Draco into one last, brief hug and then adjusting his tie.

Draco grabs his things. “I’ll see you for Christmas, Mum.” She smiles at him and shooed him off. “Yes, yes, I know. Go on, I’m sure your friends are waiting for you.” He raises an eyebrow. “Mum, Hermione’s the only one that’s consistently on time for _anything._ "

“Then I’m sure you can either find her or save them all a seat. Now, go on.”

“Bye, Mum,” Draco says as he grabs all his luggage to lug it onto the train. He makes his way through the platform, nodding politely to people even as they slightly inch away from him and his almost healed new scar from the last moon. (Just a slight scratch. Only problem is it’s on the edge of his left cheek, by his ear.)

Even though it was just over half past ten, most of the compartments were already full. Draco had been right- there was no sign of even Hermione this time. He quickly abandoned the idea of a completely empty compartment and settled for one near the end of the train that only had a sleeping man in the corner seat. _Must be the new Defense professor,_ he thought to himself. As he stowed his trunk, he saw what must have been the professor’s, because it was the only other one there. _R. J. Lupin_ was printed on the end in peeling gold lettering, and the trunk itself looked barely held together, as though it was a gift from ages ago that was well worn. The man’s robes were a bit tatty as well.

Ignoring the man, Draco got out _Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3,_ and sprawled out in his normal fashion to read until Harry, Ron and Hermione managed to find their way to his compartment. 

By the time the train had started moving, he was slightly worried- he doubted anyone wanted a repeat of last year. But just as he had made up his mind to search the train for them, the door slided open and he saw Hermione’s face poke in. “Draco!”

“Oh, good, we found him,” he heard Ron tell Harry as the three made their way into the compartment. 

“Careful,” Draco half-whispered to them, “Think he’s asleep.”

Harry quietly slid the door closed again. “What do you reckon?” He asked after they had all moved their trunks. “Never had an adult on the Express before.”

Draco pointed to the man’s suitcase exactly as Hermione did the same, while saying, “My bet’s on Defense professor.”

“Oh, bloody hell,” Ron said, which earned him an elbow and a hissed “Ron!” from Hermione. “Everyone knows it’s jinxed, right? He looks like a cold could finish him off!” He tried to defend himself amidst Harry and Draco’s conspiratorial glance and then chuckles.

“To be fair, he does look a bit ill,” Harry remarked. “Speaking of ill-” he pointed to Draco’s cheek. Hermione and Ron must have not seen it before, because Hermione gasped while Ron practically shouted a slew of curses that made even Harry look away from Draco’s cheek to elbow the redhead to shut up as to not wake the professor. 

Draco, meanwhile, turned his face away from the three towards the window with a muttered, “I’m fine.” When he glanced at the trio, he was met with three sets of raised eyebrows. “Oh, come off it. I’m fine. Really.”

“Uh huh.”

“Sure, mate.”

“Absolutely perfect.”

“You three are the worst.” There was an awkward pause, then all four busted out into laughter. The fit lasted a few minutes, but once it had died down, it was Ron who broke the mood. “In all seriousness, though- are you really okay?” Draco gave him a shrug. “It is what it is. Couldn’t get our hands on a full batch last time. Not as bad as it could have been, but, still.”

“Well,” Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper, “You guys should be happy to know that I finally got my hands on the book.”

“What?” Harry said out loud before remembering to whisper because of the guest to their conversation. “How?” He added quieter. “Diagon Alley,” She replied. “Managed to find it in a secondhand shop. Bit worn, but perfectly readable.”

“Excellent,” Ron added. 

“Guys, not that I’m not appreciative, but you really don’t have to do this,” Draco tried to interject, but there was no stopping Hermione Granger on a mission. “Draco,” she said to him. “We’ve all thought about it. All of us have agreed. We want to do this for you.”

“Yeah, okay, but _breaking the law?_ That’s a lot. Are you really, absolutely, sure you all want to do this? If you get caught, you could go to Azkaban.”

“ _If._ And we all know the risks, mate,” Ron told him. 

“Besides,” Harry interjected. “What’s life without a little rule-breaking?” 

Draco sighed. “Well, am I outvoted on this one, then?”

“Yep,” Ron said, which really summed it all up. 

Hermione pulled the book out of her bag. “It’s incredibly complicated- even more than the polyjuice. I’ve only glanced over it- probably best for all of us to read it together.”

“Yeah, probably best,” Harry agreed.

“So, Harry, you said you had something to tell all of us once we met up with Draco-” Hermione gasped in a little bit and cut her sentence short when she heard a soft snore from Lupin. The four silently gazed at each other for a long minute. “Alright,” Harry said after their pause had gone on for what felt like forever, “I think he’s still asleep.”

Draco breathed a sigh a relief. The last thing they needed was an interrogation from a teacher they didn’t know. He directed his attention to the dark haired boy. “Okay, what were you going to tell us?”

“Right,” Harry said before giving himself a small Shake of the head. “So, Ron, last night I heard your parents talking- arguing more like- because your dad wanted to tell me that _Sirius Black escaped Azkaban to come after me.”_

“Bloody hell, mate-”

“Harry-”

Draco just raised his eyebrow and motioned for the other boy to continue. “And he also made me swear that I wouldn’t go looking for Black. Which also explains why Fudge wasn’t even mad that I blew up Aunt Marge, he was just all huffy that I stormed off afterwards.”

He did a double take. “Wait, you blew up your aunt?” Draco asked incredulously. Ron started snickering for what looked to be a second time, due to the fact that Hermione seemed to be expecting it and then elbowed him a second after he began. “It’s not funny, Ronald Weasley!” But Draco had started chuckling as well. “It kind of is, Hermione.”

“Oh, not you, too,” She sighed. “Boys,” She muttered. Harry rolled his eyes at the others’ antics. “Well, it was an accident. She was spouting all this crap about my mum and dad, and it’s not like Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were discouraging her. At all.” 

“Yeah, I s’pose,” Ron said. “Hey,” he continued, “When do you think the trolley will be coming?”

After that, the conversation turned to simple chatter. Draco tuned out for some of it, though he learned some interesting things. Hermione got a cat that Ron thought was the Devil. The Cannons were doing terribly (as usual). Harry liked his birthday presents, and he made sure to thank Ron for the Sneakoscope, Hermione for the Broom Service Kit, and Draco for the Indian cookbook he got him. 

“Was a bummer I haven’t had the chance to use it, but that’s to be expected. Still, thanks,” he told Draco.

Nothing eventful really happened after that, until the trolley came. “Finally,” Ron exclaimed. I’m starving.”

“Ron, it’s only been a couple hours since breakfast,” Hermione said, exasperated.

“Exactly! A couple hours!” The redhead replied, which resulted in a groan from Hermione. Draco himself only got some pumpkin cakes and more than probably necessary chocolate frogs.

“You, my friend,” Harry said pointedly, “Have an obsession with that stuff.”

“Chocolate is superior to everything. I stand by that,” Draco told him, trying to defend himself.

The sleepy lull of the journey returned, excluding when they managed to use Lupin to their advantage to avoid anything with Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle, for once. Draco had arrived in his robes, so after lunch Hermione and the other two boys went to change. “Best get it over with early, I guess,” Harry had conceded, and Ron followed by shrugging. 

When they left, Draco almost decided to pick up where he left off in _Standard Book of Spells,_ but then changed his mind and pulled out _The Hobbit._ When the other three returned, Hermione followed his lead and pulled out one of her own books ( _Hogwarts, a History,_ if Draco wasn’t mistaken). Ron and Harry showed no interest in reading their books, so they ended up talking just to each other (Exploding Snap would have woken the professor up, Ron didn’t have his chess set in his bag- but that might have woken up the professor too, so it was just as well).

Hours later, Draco had almost finished the book when suddenly the train stopped, pulling him out of the pages. Hermione had been startled out of her book as well, and the four looked at each other with confusion. “Surely we’re not there yet?” Hermione asked.

“No, I don’t think so,” replied Harry. 

None of them had to ponder on it for very long as the lights went out just as Harry poked his head through the door.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts??


End file.
